Lake Wendouree’s Australia Day fireworks display has been put under a cloud after organisers pulled their funding on Tuesday.
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Radio station 3BA 102.3 has announced it informed Ballarat City Council of the decision to end its involvement after 27 years.
3BA general manager John Fitzgibbon said the station had written to council to request support in May.
“It’s been a difficult decision to not continue after 27 years, but the costs have become prohibitive,” he said.
“We want to ensure that we can continue to deliver the forthcoming 3BA Christmas Appeal and Christmas in July Appeal which are of utmost importance.
“We are proud that for 27 years we have delivered the largest private event for the community, which has been enjoyed by 20,000-30,000 people every year.
“It has been recognised as one of the most spectacular pyrotechnics show seen in regional Australia.”
The station’s media release said it had requested more support from council in the last three years, but the “approaches were fruitless”.
Ballarat City councillor Ben Taylor said he was not aware of any formal request for funding assistance.
He said council would consider running the event if it did not receive such a request from the radio station.
“There was no formal request but the big thing for us is that yes, we do want to see an event run,” Cr Taylor said.
Two other councillors also said no formal request was presented to council.
Cr Daniel Moloney said there were a number of funding streams available and he would encourage the radio station to apply.
“I can’t prejudge it, but I would have thought from an event perspective, we could weigh up the people who attend the dollars involved, and it would appear to meet a lot of the criteria,” he said.
“The whole point of the new grant system is to make it a lot more transparent than it has been in the past.
“The criteria generally, includes attendance numbers, and a return for a reasonable ratepayer investment.
“For that reason I definitely encourage them to put in for a grant and see if it can possibly be done.”